


Secret-Keeping for Beginners

by SuburbanSun



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Arguing, Bickering, Engagement, F/M, Perthshire Cottage, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-07-14 13:44:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7174172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuburbanSun/pseuds/SuburbanSun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Jemma.”</p>
<p>“Hmm?”</p>
<p>“I just told you I’m going to ask you to marry me, and all you can talk about is bio-sensors?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secret-Keeping for Beginners

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LilacFeather](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilacFeather/gifts).



> jsimmonss on Tumblr requested Fitzsimmons + “If you love it so much, then why don’t you marry it?”

To say that Jemma was annoyed was an understatement.

She thought of various synonyms for “annoyed” as she paced in the living room of their cottage, eyes boring holes into the door that led to the state-of-the-art lab they’d installed in the basement.

“Irritated.”

“Chagrined.”

“Pissed.”

That worked. Jemma Simmons was _pissed_.

It was one thing for Fitz to disappear down into the lab at all hours, for several days in a row, without any sort of explanation. But the sign he hung on the door whenever he did so had gone too far. “Do Not Enter,” it said, with an asterisked addendum at the bottom: “This obviously means you, Jemma. I mean it.”

Who was he to ban her from _their_ basement lab, anyway?

So she paced, and with every step, she thought of another reason that this behavior was completely and utterly unacceptable. Within just a few minutes, she had a running list in her head.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps on the stairs. She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring daggers at the doorway. When he appeared, he at least had the common sense to look apologetic, though no non-verbal apology would suffice at this point.

“Having a good time down there, are you?” she asked. She had the sudden urge to tap her foot impatiently, but then thought of every terrible American sitcom Fitz had made her watch when they lived together at the Academy, all the nagging girlfriends and wives married to hapless husbands, and she hated the idea that she might resemble one of those characters. No; her boyfriend was far from hapless, and her anger was far from misplaced. It was _her_ lab just as much as it was his!

“I suppose?” he answered, reaching up to scratch nervously behind his ear.

“Getting a lot done, I presume?”

“Trying to. I just, um. Came up for a little snack.”

She huffed. “A snack, eh? You mean you haven’t installed a full kitchen down there? Since you’re essentially living down there full-time now.”

“Erm. No?”

“Well, we can have one put in for you next week. Perhaps we should order a bed for the lab, too? Since you’re so caught up in whatever it is you’re working on that you’ve barely spent any time in ours.” Once she’d started ranting, the words just kept coming. She wasn’t sure she’d completely realized how much it bothered her that he’d basically disappeared from her side during the last few days, but it really, really did.

To be fair, was it really so wrong that she wanted to spend more time with her boyfriend? Particularly since they'd only moved into their cottage a couple of months prior. They still had so much lost time to make up for, and his newfound absence was making that difficult.

Fitz shrugged, looking guilty. “I mean, it’s-- it’s important--”

“Oh, whatever you’re working on is really quite terrific, is it?”

“Well--”

“Ugh, Fitz. If you love it so much, why don’t you marry it?” She knew it was immature the moment she said it, but she didn't care.

For his part, he froze in place, eyes wide. “What did you just say?”

“What? Oh, just-- you really seem absorbed in your project.”

“No, you said--”

Jemma cut him off with a sigh. Was he really going to force her to acknowledge how petty her arguments were becoming? “If you love it so much, you should just marry it," she recited. "But I _meant_ something much more scathing and threatening and adult than that.”

“What do you know?”

_That_ was an odd question.

“What do you mean?”

An apprehensive look on his face, he took a step closer to her. “Do you know something? If you already know, and you’re just taking the piss--”

“What? Fitz, what are you talking about? I don’t know anything.”

“Well, we both know _that’s_ not true.”

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t know anything about _this_.”

“Then why would you say that?”

“Say what? That you love whatever you’re working on? Because you’ve literally spent all your time down there besides sleeping and eating for the past four days!” She threw up her hands. “And I can’t even have access to my own lab! I had to drive 45 minutes to the nearest SHIELD facility just to run a few tests yesterday!”

Fitz let out a breath, seemingly relieved. “So then, you don’t… know?”

“What is it I’m supposed to know, or not know, as the case may be? Would you just _tell_ _me_ what you're working on?”

“I can’t!”

“That doesn’t make any _sense_.”

“It’s a surprise!”

“I don’t like surprises!”

“That’s not true.”

“Even so!”

He put his hands on his hips, letting out an enormous sigh. “I’m trying to propose to you, alright?”

Well. That was unexpected. “What?”

He licked his lips. “Yeah. I wanted to make an engagement ring to give to you, and then I thought I'd make us a pair of matching wedding bands while I was at it, and I hoped maybe I could do it without your finding out about it, but obviously that was misguided.”

“I’d say so,” she said softly. She frowned. “But, Fitz, making a ring would take you an afternoon, at most. You made me a bracelet for my 19th birthday after we came back from the bar, while half in the bag because Susan Rowell kept buying us lemon drop shots. You’ve been down in our lab for days now.”

He nodded. “I thought maybe the rings should be functional, too. So I’ve been retrofitting some of the micro-tech I’ve worked on over the years into ‘em. Trackers, comms, bio-sensors-- could’ve used your help on that one, to be honest, but I didn’t want to ruin the surprise-- which I’ve clearly done already, so.” He shrugged, holding up both hands. “Surprise?”

“Bio-sensors?” She stepped toward him, tapping a finger against her chin. “To detect what, specifically? Heart-rate, temperature, hydration level, of course, but half the wearable tech on the market today can do all that. What if we were able to detect various nutrient deficiencies and biological needs? It could be incredibly helpful in the field-- or anywhere, really.” She’d moved closer to him as she spoke, and now she stood right in front of him.

“Jemma.”

“Hmm?”

“I just told you I’m going to ask you to marry me, and all you can talk about is bio-sensors?”

“Hmm?” She realized what he’d said, and jumped as if he’d startled her. “Oh! Fitz, I’m so sorry-- of course I’ll say yes whenever you’re ready to ask; that should go without saying.”

He offered her a weak smile. “It’s good to hear you say it, anyway.”

“I just-- “ She peered over his shoulder at the door to the basement lab, and more specifically, at the sign still hanging on it. “If I could just get down there to work on it with you, maybe we could--”

“You can’t help me build your own engagement ring, Jemma!”

“But you said you’re making our wedding bands, too! Shouldn’t that be a project we take on together? Since one of them is mine and one of them is yours?”

He eyed her warily for a moment, then sighed. “I love you."

Jemma grinned, all the annoyance she’d once felt completely gone, replaced with excitement, exhilaration, and the thrill of a new project. “I love you, too. Now let me into my lab!”

Fitz chuckled, ducking into the kitchen long enough to grab a bag of pretzels, then gestured toward the door to the basement lab. “Lead the way.”

**Author's Note:**

> Want to hang out on Tumblr? I'm unbreakablejemmasimmons over there!


End file.
